With one foot stamping on the Union Jack, the sinister beast launches itself at the virtuous maiden. Hairy arms outstretched, the demon of socialism throttles the pure and upright Britannia, her belt of prosperity providing her with no protection from this monster's onslaught.

Much as it might resemble some lurid advertisement for a B-grade British horror movie, this strident image is in fact an election poster issued by the Conservative Party in 1909.

It is one of dozens from the early 20th Century released from the Bodleian Library's archive, which is celebrating its 30th anniversary.

Indeed. Many of the other posters are well worth seeing; they are bold and strike home with serious messages. His Grace seems to agree with the view of Dan Hannan MEP, that these days we use unexceptional images and prose.

At the time, I thought this the ultimate sacrifice. “Greater love hath no man than this: that a man lay down his wife for his friends.”

But, looking at the bumph that has just come through my letterbox, I see that Boris is having to do something even more painful. He is having to write in cliché.

The greatest journalistic phrase-maker of our age, a man with a Shakespearean eye for a fresh image, is forcing himself to use the pedestrian idiom of the jobbing hack.

Whilst this is probably true—our use of English, the finest and most flexible language in the world, has been rendered unexceptional by the poor standard of education, the paucity of reading and the relentless pandering to the common demnominator of the largest parts of our media—I think that the real reason that the Tories are unable to use such stark images as those released by the Bodleian is simply that their message is not strong enough to be represented so starkly.

Ultimately, all that the big three parties offer us, these days, are different degrees of socialism: how could the Tories possibly produce a poster like that above when they are, in any case, socialist?

Separate question - were Tory MPs in favour of going in to The Great War, the least liberal war ever fought?

In all probability had the Tories been in power, the outcome would have been the same - Belgium was our ally and had been invaded when the Germans put the schlieffen plan into action. And, of course, the Entente Cordiale pretty much guaranteed our entry once France was attacked.

Devil - instead of the libertarian moniker wouldn't it make far more sense (and be far more honest) to adopt a name like the Solipsistic-bubble party, or the 'I'm alright Jacks' ?

You put me in mind of certain doctors, obviously very clever but prone to inexplicable lapses in logic. For example, you (and your impressionable cohorts) deride socialism - yet we haven't had a socialist government in my lifetime.

You know s well as I do that there is essentially one political class which undulates anxiously left a bit and then right, but essentially most of them occupy the middle ground ?

Take Thatcher & Bliar, as far as I can tell they are both sociopaths who became far removed from ordinary life - they levied similar rates of income tax, yet Bliar was (initially) hailed as a socialist while the milk-snatcher was often portrayed as slightly to the right of Ghengis Khan.